Lverano

I noticed a big dent in my transmission pan after I got it home. Needless to say I was worried, so I pulled the pan, and figured if all is ok I'll have do the gasket up fresh while I'm at it. I was glad to see there was no damage. The pan was luckily dented right where there was forgiving space underneath, enough not to touch anything. I had to use a hammer and screw driver to pry the pan off. I then noticed I bent the edges pretty good when doing that. I could have used better tools trying to do that and not bogeyed things up like I did. At one section along the front of the pan I bent it so much it was really noticeable, so I laid it on a block of wood and hammered away with a mallet to get it level again. Now it's not so perfect anymore, and I'm wondering if it really needs to be if I'm going to have new permatex transmission gasket up there and new transmission pan bolts..... I mean, if the darn dent wasn't in the pan in the first place I'd have definitely left it alone, it's only got 104K on it. Well, now I'm concerned if with that pan not being precision straight if I'm going to have to worry about leaks... I priced brand new transmission pan bolts from Subaru. They ordered them for me. It's $9.33 after tax for 20 new transmission pan bolts. I feel it's a cheap investment, since I don't know if any of the others I torqued with my Milwauk wrench were weakened or cracked. That little Milwauk wrench is not that powerful, but was enough to give me 3 hours of a headache when it broke off two of my pan bolts. What a mess. I got them out though. No one ever answered my question here or on the other forum though, about if I hand spin the input shaft, should the rear tail shaft be turning too? I'm guessing with the transmission not fully hooked up to the car, and the FWD fuse reminding me something electrical can disable the rear drive, then the answer is no.. I hear ya about the no rush part. I'm not rushing either. I want to have all my ducks in a row before I got at this. Shop towels, gloves, oil, wood for extra lift height, ect.. I don't have all that stuff yet. I still need two more jack stands. I'm just glad to have the transmission home for now. Keep us posted on your trans swap.

I got the bugger. Took me til about 2am after getting home from work at 11. Never again electric on these, always by hand from now on.

Sounds like the engine that you just did has to come out anyway. Pull it out, disassemble, and inspect it again. How many miles on it? Maybe you just missed the heads warping on you...maybe all the heat, pressure, and time added up and the warp was inevitable, new gaskets or not. Was it ever overheated? I know of the Felpro as being known as top of the line, so I doubt you went wrong there. Did you torque the heads with a torque wrench and in the factory recommended sequence? That's a long shot for being the culprit, at best I'd just say it's my guess, but it's worth asking a pro if that could derail a head gasket job. At this point put your other engine in, and if it ain't broke don't fix it. I've never heard of fluid coming out of the exhaust from head gaskets. But that's probably due to my lack of experience.

I'll be removing an H6 transmission from an 03 L.L. Bean in the coming weeks. I'm trying to be as proactive as possible to prevent any hang ups once I dive into the job. I'd like to get in and out and have it done in one day. My plan of attack, and questions, goes as follows: *using cut up wood planks from home depot I'll be setting my jack on top of those in order to get the car up high enough. The same goes with the 4 jack stands I'll be using, so I'll also be sliding a couple pieces of scrap plank under each jack stand to get the car up pretty high. *I'm plannng on a 3/4 inch thick piece of plywood and a ratchet strap to modify my current Pittsburgh jack to act as my transmission jack. I'll probably use at least a 12' x 12 inch wide slab of plywood for that. I'll sink some holes in the plank to anchor it down to the jack with some bolts, and I'm expecting that to be pretty simple. *remove battery, wheels, axels *I'm debating removing the entire exhaust as one piece, but it's starting to look like the better option. *I've been under my car, and I've put a 3/8 ratchet on the cross member bolts to see if they're gonna be bad, but all of them broke loose pretty easy with the 3/8th's, so that is one less stress item for me to be concerned with. I'll not be using an impact wrench on any part of this job except for the axel nuts. *The new transmission looks good, although I have the unanswered question of should the tail shaft be spinning when I'm hand spinning the input shaft on the torque converter end? *At this point I'll have the axels out, exhaust off, and rear drive shaft off. I'll next unbolt the torque converter, starter, and remove all the bolts connecting the engine to the transmission. I'll remove the dog bone bolts, and unplug any connectors and linkage going to the shifter ect. *Next I'll use the jack once again to keep the front of the motor firmly in place and from tipping or moving while I remove the transmission cross member bolts. This should be the last thing I need to unbolt for removal, and will be the first thing I bolt back up upon installation of the new transmission. I'll have fresh transmission fluid and gear oil on hand for the new transmission. I'm considering getting a brand new transmission mount, since the only one I have I'm not going to be able to fully inspect until I've got the transmission out. I'd hate to re-install with a bad or weakened transmission mount. Anyone know the average life span or change interval of a transmission mount? I've got 200k on my Outback... I've already got a good handle on how to properly seat the torque converter on the new transmission, and it seems I'm able to move the transmission around quite a bit without it wiggling out, so I'm sure that's going to work out fine. I know it isn't rocket science, but I don't feel I can successfully complete the job until I've done it in my head. I'm missing one transmission pan bolt, so I stuffed permatex in the hole. I'm sure a Subaru out there lives with more than one transmission pan bolt missing, and not having any major leaks.... correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't expect to get any leaks with only one bolt missing and the permatex in there... Anything else anyone can suggest for me to think about, do, or have on hand before I start this job? Thanks again!

UPDATE: car is overheating, it is the head gasket without a doubt. New subaru thermostat is in there and radiator fins look good. It's gonna be a long night... I knew it would come sooner or later.

Thank you subaru Scott. That's a nice reply. I'll look for the combs!

Riding strong with 197,000 miles, but today I pushed the Subaru extra hard trying to get to work on time. I didn't get an overheat, but the coolant was steaming and the overflow reservoir overspilled a little when I parked her in the lot. The coolant was not boiling and I didn't overheat. Some time ago when I changed the thermostat I completely fill the rad, and then added a little to the reservoir, maybe I had too much in there? It's probably the original radiator in there. I have a new one from Subaru that's been hanging around my garage, but I've bumped into it a million times and a lot of the radiator fins are bent up on the outside of the rad. So my question is, are those fins being bent here and there just superficial, or do they play an integral role? I remember when I bought the rad new from Subaru they were bent here and there just a little boogered up ya know. What do ya all think? And by the way, hello again, I've been gone for a while. :-)

Wow, sounds like you have a lot of time for projects. I don't think I have a system leak. I'm not too worried over AC, it could really suck not having it in the heat of summer, but oh well, I'll live I guess. I think i'm about 10oz. low on the charge, so I'm going to slap one more 5 buck can in there from walmart and see what happens. Good to know the compressor is likely not fried.

A guy on Youtube showed me about the rings. I did read your write up too though. And yes, I replaced those rings for sure, was easy, mine were all flattened out. I got a whole box of green O-rings from harbor freight for like $5.00. Correction, the oil amount I put in was 3oz, not 6, so it sounds like your probably right, the system is probably 10 or more oz. low. The cans are only 5 bucks at walmart, it's a steal. It's worth 5 bucks just for a trouble shoot if anything. So How's ggary's Subaru? Are you still swapping the transmissions ? I'll tell you one thing, go with the Redline Heavy Shockproof you won't be sorry. It's saving me costly and time consuming transmission swap on my Sub. I've still got that buzzing in my front diff, but it's not getting worse. I've driven it 11,000 miles now and still going strong. I think I may put some in the rear as well to even up the drag, if it even matters.

It's my understanding the system holds 25 ounces, and I recon i have roughly 15 to 18 in there. Maybe it's much more than the 25?? I honestly don't know for sure. I guess I'll give it another whack on the weekend. Thanks for the reply! How you doing G.Monkey, what you driving?

I replaced an AC hose, and discharged the whole system. I had to power my compressor with a power probe to get the 12 ounce can of refrigerant to cycle through when I recharged the system, which was a success, so there should be enough pressure in the system to kick the compressor on when I turn on the AC. I also added 6 ounces of oil. It takes 25 ounces to completely charge the system. When the AC is running, is there ever a time when the compressor will stop for any reason, like maybe if the outside temperature is cold? I think I had this problem before I changed the hose with the AC not kicking on half the time, I just ignored it. I can see the compressor kick in when I hit the AC switch, but then it stops and will not come back on. It ran constantly with the power probe powering it, and I tried a different relay, but the relay turned out fine. I also unplugged the battery for a time to see if that would reset anything... if it was just a bad compressor, that would be easy. Hope it's not electrical.

I found the AC relay in the engine compartment. I will have to manually power my AC compressor to charge my AC. I discharged the system replacing a hose. After pulling out the relay, Which socket where the relay plugs into is the correct spot to apply power to power on the compressor manually if I'm standing at the fender facing the side of the fuse box.?. I'm not very good at understanding relays yet, and I'm afraid if I use my power probe to power the wrong spot I might create an electrical problem.

I've decided on BFGOODRICH AT KO 2, and YES i just found them in 215/65/16. that's what i'll be shooting for. Hopefully i can find 4 used on ebay, probably will end up with new ones though..

Ok, Garbo88, I'll be honest, I ready about the first 3 quarters of your post here and stopped because I pretty much get the gist of it. All these guys responding to you on this thread are very knowledgeable, so I'll let them guide you with whatever your other problem is, but please take my advice on the differential. Step by step, here we go: 1. If you don't already have this stuff, get a good jack, 2 good jack stands, and some wheel chalks. 2. Now jack up your car and drain the fluid from the differential. BE SAFE, and let someone who knows what they are doing help you if you are not mechanically inclined. There's a couple different guys on youtube that can show you how to do it. Here's a good link. 3. You can also watch how CAVEMANJOE does the rear diff as well. 4. Now, for differential fluid, get this stuff only which I'm about to give you a link to. It will quiet your diff noise a little, but more importantly, it'll keep the temp down in your differential. I have a noisy front differential in my 2003 Subaru Outback LL Bean with 190K, and my car has been running like a dream for 15K miles and counting with no problems since I put it in. It's a life saver, and it'll hold off replacing your transmission for a long time...maybe would have indefinitely if you'd of had it in there to begin with. Don't try anything else, I spent good money so I could come on here and tell you this is the best stuff you can get. PERIOD. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/red-58204?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-red-line-synthetic-oil&gclid=COPBgtekidICFcePswoddOIH0w 5. If you end up having a problem with your axels, go straight to Subaru and pay the almost 200 per axel straight from Subaru and I promise you will not regret it. Bring the old axels wth you for core charge. Anything other than OEM Subaru axels is a mistake. Don't second guess me on this, I spent good money so I could come on here and tell you Subaru axels are the only way to go, even if you have to get a used one out of a junk yard. 6. putting in axels is not for the faint of heart, but don't pay your mechanic more than a hundred bucks to install a Subaru axel, it's grunt work, but it's not that big of a deal. 7. If you have bearing trouble or anything like that, go to ebay and just buy a whole assembly, and have someone install it if you can't on your own, again, no more than 100 bucks a side. You should be able to get a front or rear assembly for under 75 bucks shipped off ebay if you ever need it. It's not worth the time to have new bearings pressed in, that is, if you are able to do the labor yourself, getting the whole assembly is way easier. Good Luck, and remember mechanics fix cars for a LIVING, and a lot of them are going to charge the hell out of you, so if you are capable, learn to do as much on your own as possible. Cheers, Lester.

What about a 215/70/16? My OEM is 225/60/16...

I could see procrastinating with this for another year easily. I got a JDM guy right next to me, but if he can't let a transmission go for 300 or 350 tops, I'm not even gonna go that route. I just saw a BEAN at the Crazy Ray's junk yard up the street about a month ago, but it wasn't smashed, plus I didn't have the time to be in the yard pulling out the transmission, but now I wish I would have made the time. Hopefully a smashed one will appear on my weekend off. If I see one, I think I'm going to swarm. It'll be good practice taking it out too, I need it, I haven't been really dirty for a while. Feels nice.

I still drive the 03 Outback with the differential whirring in the front. A good while ago (10-15k miles) I put Redline Heavy Shock proof gear oil in, and the sound has stayed the same. One day it'll go kaput, and I want to start shopping now for the replacement transmission. I have a 2003 L.L. Bean H6 Automatic. It seems to be the transmission must be different for this year of the second generation Subaru Outbacks with the H6, because whenever I shop JDM websites or eBay, there's always specified years in the listing, like for example, 2000-2002, or 2004-2005, or just 2003 alone. I see adds presented like this consistently enough to be concerned that I'd be buying the wrong transmission for my car if it was not specifically for my year. The only thing I know for sure at this point, is mine is a non-VDC. I always see the white rectangular labels on the transmissions in the pictures I'm looking at, but from my junk yard hunts, and all the adds I've looked at, it seems there always different, like they don't have anything to do with compatibility. I really don't have a darn clue what I should be looking for to make absolutely for sure I'd be buying the right transmission for my Bean. Oh, check with the dealer you say? Well, they don't seem to offer a whole lot of help.... It's always ok give me the VIN, ok wait a minute, well all we can see is this one here, part number blah, blah, blah, and it'll run you 7 grand installed, have a nice day..

Thanks you I found a set of 205/55 16's ...... nope changed my mind, I'm going with OEM size.

I found a set of General Altimax 205/55 16's. good tread more than half for 140... I'm gonna take them. Thanks for the reply

Looking for a good set of sand tires / snow tires for my 03 Bean Outback. How big of a 16 tire can I fit without modding anything, and not have wheels hitting the wells, etc.? Subaru is still running great!

So when it's cold I can't get my cruise to work right, it's like the switch is not making contact half the time, and as soon as the weather got nice, it's like I have a brand new cruise control. Why?

Great advice and matches closely to what grossgary said. Sounds like a winner, thank you!

Well then your post was a help, because I was gonna torch that thing red hot. I'll go on to do as you've instructed here, and I'll save my torch for the exhaust. Thanks again Gary!

Still I ride the 03 Bean with the whirrring noise coming from my front differential. 6,000 miles and has not gotten louder or gotten better since adding redline heavy shock proof, which has kept the problem at bay. One day I'll remove the transmission from this vehicle, and when I do, I want to eliminate any possibilities of stripping or getting any of the transmission frame bolts stuck. So my question is, is heating either of the main transmission anchor bolts with a torch a good safe measure to use before trying to break them loose? How hot should I let them get? How long after heating should I try to turn them out? I already plan on using a good six point socket. For the torch,I'll use a decent Bernzomatic, and that's about it. Any important pointers from any of you good mechanics that you could share with me? Thanks!

Omega gear oil or nano lube additive, I'd like to know if anyone has ever used either of these products to silence a diff? No YouTube videos or anything I could google on it at all..